


The Consultant

by InTheShadows



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Betrayal, Civil War Team Iron Man, Consequences, Drabble, Extremis, Gen, Hacking, Not Steve Friendly, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Social Media, wft is this?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 17:27:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13768977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InTheShadows/pseuds/InTheShadows
Summary: Where it started is with the fall of Shield - if not before that. Where it ended is in a cold, abandon bunker in Siberia - and when people found out what happen there. The world unites to find answers and are shocked at what they find. What do you do when your hero isn't the hero you thought he was? (In more ways than one.)





	The Consultant

**Author's Note:**

> This is a thing that got stuck in my head and wouldn't leave until I wrote it. If you lost the plot, don't worry, I'm pretty sure I did too. (What is this shit again?)

It all started with the fall of SHIELD.

Technically, one could say it started with the Battle of Manhattan. Or even before that, when said organization sent their 'best' spy to profile Tony. (That's the starting point Tony uses, if only to avoid thinking about the rest of the shit life has thrown at him.)

If one wants to be _really_ technical, one could place the blame squarely on one Obadiah Stane's shoulders for ordering that hit. Or not hiring competent enough terrorists. That led to Iron Man. Going farther back, Howard Stark can also be blamed simply for being a shitty human being and an even shittier father. That led to more issues than Tony will ever admit to – when the fight first began; where he learned to wear his first armour.

Even farther back, Erskine and Steve Rogers – and his father _again_ – can be an excellent starting point. Captain America, the world's first superhero. Because everything in Tony's life leads back to Captain fucking America. (This is another point Tony will use when drunk.) Another useful starting point is the Nazis. And HYDRA – _super_ Nazis. Blaming Nazis is always a good way to go. (This is another point Tony will use when sober.) Really, it all depends on what you consider the beginning – Iron Man or the Accords.

Point is, while the fall of SHIELD technically gets the ball rolling, this has been a long time in coming.

Where is ends however, is a cold, deserted bunker in Siberia. Or, rather, it ends when people find out what happened in that cold deserted bunker in Siberia. Turns out deserted of people does not mean deserted of technology.

It goes viral when Tony is in surgery, having his chest reconstructed after Rogers almost decapitated him. Apparently having a vibranium shield slam into an already weak chest can really cause some serious damage. Who knew. After spending almost 72 hours in a dead metal suit in the middle of Siberia, Extremis is the only thing keeping him alive and whole. He never thought, after the entire mess, that he would be thankful for it. Then again, he never expected it to save his life either.

This isn't like the first time, when he had the arc reactor removed. Oh no. Then it was cut and dry. Use Extremis to keep him alive while removing the shrapnel then fill in the hole in his chest – and lungs and ribs and muscles and... Now it is so much more invasive. It repairs bones and lungs and frostbite. It reforms said lungs from where they had been punctured. It strengthens a weak heart. It makes dead limps healthy again. And it does more. Releasing that much Extremis into the body means that it does not just target the needed areas. It just targets those areas _first_.

Tony comes out of surgery able to go head to head with those who did this to him in the first place. Without the suit. But while he is still under, the world gets to work.

Try as they might, it is soon public knowledge that Iron Man is in the hospital. Iron Man was in a fight. Iron Man might _die_. There is a saying about a common enemy and it proves itself again here. The world had already been on the edge of their seat, watching the drama play out. Now the hackers of the world get to work. Some try and trace what happen. Others begin – or rather, continue, more urgently than before – to decode those documents dumped carelessly on the internet all those years ago – HYDRA and SHIELD alike. It is amazing what the right motivation can do to inspire people.

The results are startling. They are shocking. They are more than anyone could have ever imagined. It comes in two folds.

The first is this – the bunker and the lies and the fight. It is horrifying and devastating to watch their hero fall apart in front of their eyes. He breaks while another hero betrays him so thoroughly they feel it themselves. A hero that all of history knows about. A hero that many have admired and looked up to since childhood. A hero that had saved them – some personally. Captain America was suppose to be someone you could trust. Not anymore. What happen to 'No Man Left Behind'?

But the second is a shock that none of them could have expected. How could they? Even those who do not like Tony Stark knew he was Iron Man. An Avenger – a founding member even. But there, buried under digital mission reports and encrypted data, was another story. A psychological assessment, completed by one Natalie Rushman aka Natasha Romanoff aka the Black Widow, on one Anthony Edward Stark in regards to the Avengers Initiative.

Results: displays compulsive behavior, prone to self-destructive tendencies and textbook narcissism.

Conclusion: Iron Man, yes. Tony Stark, not recommended.

Date: May 2010

Even his critics couldn't believe it. The gall of some people. Everyone knows that Iron Man was an Avenger. And everyone knows Tony Stark _is_ Iron Man. As he once said, the he and the suit are one. Without him, there would be no Iron Man. Then again, that was also the hearing where he called the Senators assclowns, so his point may have gotten lost in the crowd there.

It still stands though. Tony Stark _is_ Iron Man. He is the brains and the power behind the suit. Even if someone else had a suit, it would not make them Iron Man. Take Colonel James Rhodes. He is War Machine – or Iron Patriot, depending on who you ask. The suit is just a suit without him to pilot it. Which all means one startling thing – Tony Stark is not an Avenger. Tony Stark is a consultant.

Tony Stark, the Avenger who did the most – funding, PR, maintenance and creation of weapons/equipment for the team – the most visible of the team and the one most likely to take the blame while setting up funding as an apology. That Tony Stark, someone bigger than life, is a mere consultant. The beloved hero of millions, pushed aside, not even a true member of his own team.

It might be different if the results were ever updated. It might not be such a big deal if they went back and corrected their mistake. And it has to be a mistake. Right? Tony has been on the team for years. The clearly wanted him. So why not change it?

The answer is more grim and more insulting than the first shock. Manipulation, pure and simple. Manipulation and the ability to thoroughly use one of the most powerful men in the world. Rogers has been heard saying that he doesn't trust governments because of their agendas. Maybe he should try looking at his own before speaking up too loudly.

Within hours, the world rallied. They saw the abuse, they saw the manipulation and they united under one cause. They united under the man who had always been there for them. The man who tried and tried and always got back up when he failed. The hero that heard what the world had to say and acted on it.

When Tony Stark was abandoned in a cold bunker in Siberia, the world had been divided and conflicted.

When he emerged, healthy and _more_ from surgery, he woke to find the people joined together under one banner: The Consultant.  


 


End file.
